Facebook is smarter than I

I’ll start off by saying I’ve never like Facebook. To me, Facebook seems cluttered, and I don’t like the idea that it is marketed towards students. I don’t want my online communication to be limited to a specific age group, where there are other blogging sites that I feel do a better job of integrating people of all age groups, student or not, into a blogging community.
I do not, however, feel that the privacy issues that were raised in the readings have ever affected me. More importantly, it would be a terrible idea to gather information from personal blogs, as there is no way to tell what is truth and what is fiction. I find that many of the blogs I read have profiles that amuse me, which I think is the intent in most cases.
I tell the truth in my blog, and that is the very reason I stay away from Facebook. On Facebook, you are identified by your name, and are required to imput your school email. This alone takes away more privacy than I want to be taken away; I’d prefer to remain anonymous. Under the cover on anonymity, I am fine with posting anything and everything, not that I do.
One thing that interested me, was that Facebook states that they have the right to alter their rules whenever they see fit (Schneier). At first, this seemed to be unacceptable, but the more I thought about it, it is completely necessary. Because the internet is still new and changing, with controversy over sometimes vague rules and regulations, leaving itself in a position to change the rules whenever they want is like a get out of jail free card. With this being the case, Facebook is free to say they have no responsibility over your privacy.

Comments

I appreciated your clarity of Facebook inhibiting a sense of creativity and participation. It is also clearly a sense of privacy restriction when you have to provide your school email and affiliation. I think these are great arguments but also feel comforted by the restrcitions.

I like Facebook because it is so generic and feel secure that I can know the information of others in the community. Although I feel secure that you can set restrictions to friends-only viewing your online profile the fact that Facebook privacy is avaiable to change is a bit alarming.

While I am on Facebook, I agree with you that it is cluttered and is marketed toward students. However, I can see why they do. Would Facebook be even remotely as successful as Myspace had they tried that strategy. Personally, I think its nice that students have a site specified for them. This may keep creeps and perverts away...possibly. Good job.